Unsee, Unsee, Unsee!
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day three hundred and ninety-three: It takes something truly disturbing to traumatize Brittany... and there it is...


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 18th cycle. Now cycle 19!_

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**"Unsee, Unsee, Unsee!"  
Sue & Brittany  
Sylvesters Series #16 (direct sequel to "Kiss & Tell") **

The room was eerily quiet. The only sound was the faint squeak from Brittany's chair as the blonde rocked lightly back and forth. Her blue eyes were wide and fixed anywhere but at her mother… This was terror, horror, scarring… "Brittany?"

"No, no," she shook her head, not looking up. "Not yet… not yet…" her voice trembled. "Not ever…" Her eyes dared a slow, upward turn, but the moment they found her mother's face, a squeak broke from her throat and her eyes dove down.

She'd gone looking for the coach, to inform her, as she would do every so often, on what was going on in Glee Club. However when she knocked on the door, there was no answer. She knocked louder, in case she hadn't heard… Still nothing. After a while, she peered through the blinds… No one was there… This registered as odd to her, especially after looking back again and confirming that her mother wasn't there… She couldn't deliver her message, and she knew she'd probably forget it if she didn't deliver it immediately. So she went out looking for her.

She'd peeked into every last room on the first floor with no success. The classrooms' inspections led to a number of teachers believing it was some kind of spirit week drive… She made twenty-seven dollars. The only one who didn't give her anything was her English teacher, who was more interested with why she wasn't in her seat for that period's lesson.

So she'd moved up to the second floor, carried on her search through rooms and classrooms… made thirty-four dollars and twenty-five cents there… Immediately she'd thought it should be enough to treat herself and Santana to a couple Breadstix dinners… No, she couldn't think about that yet, she had to focus on her present task.

She did all the rooms, big or small; she even checked broom closets, but no sign of her. There were just a couple more spots to look into, and she ducked down a hall no one ever really went through. There were three doors. The first was locked, the second was empty, and the third door…

Her eyes went wide, though it was more out of curiosity, for the brief and blissful seconds before she spotted the all-familiar track suit, dangling off a stack of old desks… There was not a drop of curiosity in her anymore… or of blood in her face as she blanched and gasped.

"That's not fighting, I know what that is!" her hand slapped to cover her eyes and missed the mark, making her see something more as the pair was startled. Somewhere between a shriek and a squeak, her hand finally covered her eyes. "I can still smell it," she tried to feel her way out with a tentative hand like she might accidentally touch someone naked…

She managed to stumble out in the hall again, mumbling something about her happy place before locking into near-catatonia. For a while she'd just stare at the wall, then her head would flick back, not remembering where she was… then she'd remember, all of it, and she'd heave with horror, falling back into fixed silence.

A couple minutes went by before her mother came out of the room, zipping up her track suit coat.

"Brittany…" she started, out of breath, but her daughter flinched.

"No, no, no, no, no…" her eyes diverted so she wouldn't look at her.

"Go down to my office, wait there, don't talk to anyone, not even Santana… Especially not Santana," Sue pointed a finger, reached to pat her shoulder but then decided against it… Not a good idea.

So Brittany did as told, heading down to wait outside the office. She couldn't process what she'd just seen… There were pieces and she couldn't put them together, even if she knew what each one was… Maybe it was better that way. All she knew was that every time she closed her eyes, she saw parts of her mother she'd never seen … She'd never felt this way before, never had anything disturb what was usually a pretty 'devil-may-care' attitude, but this took her previously untapped trauma senses and put them through the ringer… She was this close to sitting in a ball on the ground – bent over and about to sit – when her eyes spotted the sneakers and she snapped back up. She worked to get her bearings back at the same time as she turned her head away so not to see her mother's face.

She heard the office door open and she wordlessly shuffled into the office, keeping her eyes down at all times. They were quiet for a while, and when Sue tried to get her to talk, she was told 'not yet.' She waited a bit more, but then she had to speak.

"Brittany, I realize this may have been a bit strange for you to see. I remember, when I was ten years old, I walked in on my parents… Looked like a couple wildebeest fighting for a scrap of meat…" her mind wandered off until she heard Brittany whimper. She cleared her throat and sat up. "The point is you had to know this happened… once in a… long while," she coughed. "A-and… you wouldn't be…" she stopped herself, thinking better. Brittany's head raised while her eyes remained downcast.

"I wouldn't be what?"

"You…" Sue scrambled to think, "You wouldn't be… wrong for being upset," she finally settled on, nodding to herself. Brittany didn't respond. Sue looked at her for a moment… Maybe she hadn't actually seen Mr. Ryan… "Brittany, this man and I… you don't know him… It was just this one time, I can assure you," she spoke, observing her for reactions to the claim that this was a man she'd never seen… No disturbances, so she may well have been right… Good. "Tell you what, why don't you go to the mall later," she reached in her pocket and fished out three twenty-dollar bills. "Take Santana, you girls have fun," she held out the money and Brittany took it without a look or a word. "You should get to class." As her daughter stood, Sue thought… "What were you looking for me for?"

"I don't remember," she spoke as she left the office.

She went to Santana and told her what she saw. She looked both delighted and horrified. Then Brittany presented her with the one hundred and twenty-one dollars and twenty-five cents she'd somehow collected, and Santana assured her she could make her forget what she'd seen…

THE END

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**_[A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, story alert won't get you anything! ;)]_**


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